Corruption in Present Day Russia

For the last ten years the problem of corruption in Russia seems to draw more and more attention that is in itself quite uncommon for the first stages of the state reformation. During the first years of reorganization in the early 90ies the reformers mainly focused on taking down the socialist system and building the new foundation for the market economy and democracy. But very soon the feelings of disappointment pertaining to the effectiveness of the reforms and their results began emerging for the considerable part of the population. The formation of the new legislation necessary for the functioning of market economy opened up new possibilities in gaining self-profit for rising elite. Thus, privatization in some countries with transitional economy was deemed by the majority as an unfair and corrupted process, but even countries orrupted orwit r marnt in the effectiveness of the reforms and their results. with slower privatization processes failed to avoid this problem, as it was assumed that government officials simply steal public property.

                Abandoning the socialistic system of management, rapid changes in economic regulations and social norms were accompanied by the growth of corruption in the field of government services (for example, public health or utility services). Other government service agencies also faced corruption (licensing, supervision, tax and custom duties administration). As the role and significance of juridical system changed[1], - due to the development of market economy, - the level of corruption in judicial system increased. By the end of the first decade of reforms the prevalence and malignancy of corruption became obvious.

            Growing discontent with the corrupted government officials in former socialistic countries gave way to the new political leaders. When V. Zeman acquired a position of prime-minister of the Czech Republic in 1998, he stated that “the privatization in the way it has been conducted in the Czech Republic during the last five years was nothing but corruption. It created a system where taking without giving anything back became a norm."[2] Slovak prime-minister I. Miklosh, who was elected after Mechiyar's rule ended in 1998, became a pioneer of efficient anticorruption program, disclosed abusive practices of Mechiyar's  regime and stated that "corruption is a problem of all countries, but mostly it is a problem of countries with transitional economies like ours.”[3] In Bulgaria in1998 a number of non-government organizations formed “Coalition 2000”, an association with the main objective of raising awareness within the society of a growing problem of corruption in the country. The most significant movements associated with the regime change in 2003 and 2004, - the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia that lead to the impeachment of E. Shevardnadze and “Oran